Latest newsletter from Syntonic

Anthony Townsend
May 31
3 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Issue 1 (Jan-March 2025) - Welcome to Syntonic

Why Syntonic?

Syntonic is a psychoanalytic term referring to a state of emotional harmony, which is what we hope to offer our patients through a comprehensive interventional psychiatric offering, including ketamine infusions with psychotherapy and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).

Our interventional service is housed in this cosy Cape Dutch house at 73 Oxford Road in Saxonwold that more closely resembles an art gallery than a clinic. In accordance with the famous dictum of ‘set and setting’ being of paramount importance during deep transformational work, Syntonic aims to provide a welcoming and beautiful holding space that mirrors the unique emotional unravelling and reconstruction that occur during each patient’s journey with us.

We are currently in the process of constructing pods, which will house additional interventional spaces, and look forward to sharing pictures of our evolving space in the next edition!

Our Inaugural Syntonic Symposium

We were thrilled to host 52 esteemed colleagues and friends at our first interventional psychiatry symposium. We are grateful for the enthusiastic reception of our presentations on our clinic’s offerings and of the current research and literature regarding the ethical and effective practice of ketamine infusions with psychotherapy and TMS.

A summary of the colloquium

We began with a joint talk on the ethics of novel treatments in which we covered the levels of evidence for novel treatments such as ketamine infusions with therapy and TMS. We also discussed the unique ethical requirements of service offerings for treatment resistant conditions and how these have informed our clinical protocols.

Next, Dr Laila Paruk (Psychiatrist) outlined the indications, contraindications, treatment protocols and efficacy studies of TMS in the treatment of anxiety and depression in particular. Sr Zakeeya Bhoola (Registered nurse) also presented a moving case study of TMS as a successful intervention for a patient who had struggled with treatment-resistant anxiety.

Dr Joanna Taylor (Psychiatrist) illustrated the mechanism of action of ketamine as a molecule and it’s relation to rapid symptom alleviation for depression. She also provided a comprehensive overview on the state of the evidence regarding ketamine in the treatment of depression, making mention of the value of combining infusions with therapy.

Following brunch, Dr Anthony Townsend (Clinical Psychologist) and Mr Brad Kallenbach (Clinical Psychologist) provided a depth discussion on the psychotherapeutic components of ketamine infusions with reference to the necessity of adequate therapeutic preparation and rigorous integration. The value of couching infusions with an evidence-based therapeutic program was illustrated by a case study of one of Syntonic’s very first patients.

A special thanks to Julia Halstead-Cleak and The Day Clinic for hosting this event and providing such a welcoming space for this fascinating conversation with colleagues.

We are currently planning an online version for those who missed it!

Spreading Syntonic news and knowledge

Our website is now equipped with the latest Syntonic news, online patient intake forms, practitioner referral forms and booking systems to smooth the path to healing. It also has loads of information on the modalities we use, and blog articles that delve a little deeper into these. Please also follow us on social media for all the news and updated research on our interventions.

Please check out a recent publication by Dr. Anthony Townsend in Mental Health Matters (MHM) on KAP.

Read it Here

Please follow us on Instagram (@syntonic_73oxford) and LinkedIn for more information on our offerings and for insightful content about interventional psychiatry posted each week!